Teacher makes lifelong impression on students

DURHAM -- Barbara Kiesel, kindergarten teacher at Frederick F. Brewster School, goes about making her students' experiences so unforgettable, they remember her for the rest of their lives.

MARJORIE LOW

Published
12:00 am EST, Monday, November 27, 2000

"Ever since I was in second grade, I wanted to be a teacher," Kiesel says. I wanted to help people to learn. My mother, aunts and cousins were all teachers. I try to make teaching fun."

Doreen Rainey is a teacher's aide. "My four grown children still remember how wonderful their kindergarten year was with Ms. Kiesel," she explains.

In a classroom that reflects a colorful personality, the children, numbering less than 20, listen raptly as Kiesel, a dynamic teacher for 32 years, speaks to them about an assignment. A black paper maché cat fighting fish swims in a glass vase. Using apples and seeds, the children learn to count and read. In September, they were involved in a math project at the Durham Fair, measuring ingredients for zucchini bread, then baking it. One loaf was used for their Thanksgiving feast.

In a field trip to a local pumpkin farm, the children saw, weighed and measured the sizes of various pumpkins. "I like my students to use all of their senses in order to learn," Kiesel explains.

Each year, the Halloween parade has a turnout of parents with cameras, while children and teachers parade around the school accompanied by music.

For Thanksgiving, the children roasted a turkey at school, pick the meat off the bones, then mixed it with chicken soup, frozen vegetables and milk for a baked casserole. They made cranberry muffins, popcorn, butter from heavy cream, and grated bark similar to nutmeg, which flavored their cookies. Place mats were made by using brown paper shopping bags, that were torn, crumpled and soaked in water, then dried and painted with symbols representing the "Legend of the Indian Paintbrush."

Kiesel dyes T-shirts fawn brown to emulate deerskin for her students to decorate with Native American symbols. They create their own headdresses and write a story using word symbols. In music class, they are taught about Native American instruments. In art class, a Native American comes in to speak to the class.

There is a nature trip to the Portland Cranberry Bog, with outdoor education specialists Marci Klattenberg and Lorrie Martin, who point out how Native Americans used plants, tree bark and berries. Silky dogwood was used as a paint brush, black birch bark as a spice and a mix of poke berries, leaves, dirt and egg whites to create paint.

Letters from current second-graders have quotes such as "You gave us a hug," "You helped us work in our journals" and "I think you are a great drawer and writer." One quote was "I remember when Miss Kiesel dressed up and sat on a spider. When she took out the spider from beneath, she screamed."

The Durham High School graduating class of 2000 selected Kiesel to be their guest speaker.

Christmas is a celebration of holidays around the world by creating different ornaments.

For St. Patrick's Day, Kiesel paints tiny green footprints leading into the classroom, then sprays her hair green to appear like a leprechaun.

Not only is Kiesel an avid reader, she writes children's stories and reads them to her class. Gifted with an abundance of energy and enthusiasm, combined with an active imagination, Kiesel regards each day as a celebration of life.